In the sermon "Solid Ground for the Staggering" by Scott Brown, the speaker discusses Isaiah 28, highlighting the dangers of pride and the false sense of security that can arise from it. The passage warns the rulers of Jerusalem against making a "covenant with death" and relying on lies as a refuge. Instead, God offers a sure foundation through a cornerstone, symbolizing Jesus Christ, upon which believers can stand firm. This cornerstone is depicted as tried, precious, and essential for salvation. The sermon explains the significance of standing on this solid foundation, which contrasts with the instability of lies and pride. The six woes in Isaiah address various forms of spiritual and moral decay, urging self-reflection and repentance. The metaphor of farming illustrates God's discerning judgment, showing that He deals with each situation uniquely and wisely. The sermon calls for believers to recognize and discard the lies they maintain, emphasizing the importance of standing with Christ and His people. Additionally, the historical context of Isaiah's time, including the role of King Hezekiah, is explored, illustrating the ongoing struggle between true worship and false religion.

Isaiah chapter 28 verses 14 through 24. Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem. Because you have said, we have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves. Therefore thus says the Lord God, behold I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.

Whoever believes will not act hastily. Also, I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plummet. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters will overflow the hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it.

As often as it goes out, it will take you, for morning by morning it will pass over, and by day and by night it will be a terror just to understand the report. For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it. For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perizem. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his awesome work, and bring to pass his act, his unusual act. Now therefore do not be mockers, lest your bonds be made strong.

For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a destruction determined even upon the whole earth. Give ear and hear my voice. Listen and hear my speech. Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?

When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow the black cumin and scatter the cumin? Plant the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place. For he instructs him in right judgment, his God teaches him. For the black cumin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cumin, but the black cumin is beaten out with a stick and the cumin with a rod. Bread flour must be ground, therefore he does not thresh it forever, break it with his cartwheel, or crush it with his horseman.

This also comes from the Lord of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance. Oh God, that we would hear Your voice this morning as we hear the thunder and the rain outside. Oh Father, that your spirit would be present here to open up ears and hearts to hear and to understand. I pray God that you would give Scott special unction this morning so Lord He would make it clear to all of us what your word is saying. Thank you God for your word, which is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

Amen. As we pick up the text here in verse 14, we see that God is still speaking to people that are staggering in their pride, and at the same time we see that God makes provision for the proud. And he does it a number of ways. He destroys the things that made the pride. He destroys the proud.

But he also provides. He provides a place to stand. You know, the Lord is speaking here to a staggering, wobbling people with slurred speech. And the reason they're staggering and wobbling is because of pride. And last week we talked about the effects of pride that Isaiah outlines here in the first part of this chapter.

The problem is that they don't see that they're proud. Pride is self-blinding. And so you don't see your own staggering, and yet you pretend to be strong, but you have no foundation. And Isaiah is telling about that foundation. That foundation is the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he's speaking of the fact that God is going to sweep away the lies and at the same time he's going to provide a foundation for those who would who would repent of their pride. And the question of the whole chapter, I think, is what is the foundation of your life? What's the foundation of your family? What's the foundation of everything that you're doing? And upon what foundation are you standing?

Because this chapter pictures a person actually standing on a foundation. It describes a person that was wobbling and staggering with slurred speech and blurred vision. And yet there's a provision of God to stand with someone, actually to stand upon someone, to stand upon Jesus Christ. And we learn later on in the Bible that you're not only standing upon Christ, but you're also standing with His people. He's the cornerstone and you are one of the living stones that is actually resting on that foundation stone.

And it's a beautiful picture, really. It's a picture of being, you know, torn up and tossed by the wind, and then finding a place to stand. And you're standing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you're also standing with the people of God. And so it pictures this remnant, again, of the people of God, and they have a sound place to stand.

And so The question again is, are you standing on Jesus Christ? Everything that comes to you, do you find yourself standing with Jesus upon His, He Himself, which is the cornerstone? Standing with Jesus is the most important thing a person can ever do. There's so many places to stand, aren't there? And yet there's one place, there's only one place that is sound.

And so Isaiah is declaring all these things. On the other hand, men make lies their refuge instead of Jesus Christ their refuge. This section of Isaiah should challenge us to ask, what refuge of lies do I maintain? The Christian life is really a long process of getting rid of the lies that are in your head, because There are lots of lies in our heads, and there's this progressive work of God to expose the lies that are there. But what's the most wonderful thing in the world?

To stand. To stand on that solid rock, on that sure foundation. And we must recognize how important that is because he's going to wash away the lies and he is going to destroy the liars. And all of this is declared here in this passage. Now, I'd like for just a few minutes to give sort of some historical coordinates so that we can understand again perhaps what's going on here.

Isaiah, Isaiah's prophesying, you know, between 740 BC and at least to 701 BC and probably beyond that. His life spans the lives of four kings. And he's had the opportunity to stand on the rock of the Lord Jesus Christ, to stand with God and his people and his remnant and to look at the world in the way that God looks at the world. And so he's observing the activities of these kings and the responses of the peoples as a result of the king's activities. And you have the tribes in the north.

There are ten tribes in the north that split off as a result of the apostasy of Jeroboam. And they are called Ephraim. The northern ten tribes are called Ephraim. And Samaria is their capital. And Samaria seems to have continued to experience some level of prosperity and safety the way that Isaiah speaks of it.

But there's destruction coming. And some of their cities have been severely harmed by Assyria already. But the flood is coming. It's on its way to Samaria. And So that's why Isaiah is talking about Ephraim and Samaria, Samaria being the capital of the Northern Kingdom.

And what Isaiah is saying in chapter 28 is that he is saying something to Judah about the northern kingdom. Judah is composed of two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. They're in the southern part where Jerusalem lies. And What Isaiah is saying in chapter 28 is, look north. Look at their lives.

Look at what's going to happen to them. But don't just look and think about them. Because you are in the same boat. He's saying you're just like them. In fact, you might be worse than them in some areas.

And you think with your Jerusalem and your spiritual practices and your temple and all these things, Your religion that you've arranged here, your heartless religion, this religion of laws, but of no heart toward God. Don't think for a minute that you'll escape the judgment. So what Isaiah is saying is, look at Israel, Israel, Ephraim, Samaria, those three are synonymous terms. Look at them and don't judge them, judge yourself. And Isaiah brings us to a really important principle of life.

When you see somebody doing something wrong, look to yourself. Don't judge them. You may be able to make statements about what is happening as idea zaya does. That's the right thing to do. It's a good and correct thing to do to make judgments.

But that's different than being judgmental. Being judgmental means that you're saying that you are so pure while they are so impure. And that's the message here. Now, also, we've just entered into a new section in Isaiah that begins in this chapter, in chapter 28, and it's the beginning of six woes, and I want you to have your Bibles open, and I just want you to stop on the six woes. I'd like you to see where we're going with these woes.

And of course the first woe is a warning about the fading glory of pride. That you're, When you maintain pride in your heart, you're like a fading flower. And that's why he says in verse 1 in chapter 28, woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose beauty, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower. And then the second woe is in chapter 29. It's announced in verse 1 And it's a warning of continual spiritual fraud.

In other words, religion in your head, but not in your heart. And he says in verse 1, woe to Ariel. To Ariel, he's talking about Jerusalem, where the city where David dwelt, add year to year, let feasts come around. Yet I will distress Ariel. There shall be heaviness and sorrow, and it shall be to me as Ariel.

I will a camp against you all around. I will lay siege against you with a mound and I will raise siege works against you. You shall be brought down." This woe is an attack against the false religion, how they maintained their feasts and their prayers and their memorizing of scripture and things like that, but yet they were dead inside. And then the third woe is announced in chapter 29 verse 15, and this is a warning for the hiding of sin. It's a focus on secret sin.

Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord and their works are in the dark, who say, who sees us and who knows us? Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord and their works in the dark. They say, who sees us and who knows us? And the fourth woe is in chapter 30 in verse 1. This is a warning about taking advice from the world.

And the prophet says, Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely... I'm sorry, I jumped. Chapter 30. Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord, Who take counsel but not of me, and devise plans, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin, who walk to go down to Egypt, and have not asked my advice." You might recognize several years ago we did a conference called the Sufficiency of Scripture. This was one of the great passages of scripture that we quoted there.

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for advice. And then The fifth woe is in chapter 31, verse 1, and it's a warning about trusting in worldly means of protection. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses who trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord." And then the sixth woe is in chapter 33 verse 1. And here the warning is against those who take aggressive action against other people. This is about attacking others.

Woe to you who plunder, though you have not been plundered, and you who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you when you cease plundering you will be plundered And here there's the principle of just war and more that we'll get into there. Now this also too exists, these woes exist in a time where there's a revival going on among God's people in different places. And you can read about it in 2 Kings chapter 18. And what you find here is during the reign of Hezekiah, and we're in the reign of Hezekiah when we come to chapter 28 in Isaiah. Hezekiah is doing what's right in the sight of the Lord.

And he's a representative David, the type of Christ. In other words, he has a heart toward God. Hezekiah is a good king. And he removed the high places and the sacred pillars. He didn't go as far as he should have, but we learned that he trusted in the Lord God of Israel.

And in 2 Kings 18, verse 5, we read that there was none after him among the kings of Judah who were alike him. And it says that he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept his commandments which the Lord had commanded Moses." And so there was a revival going on, and it was a revival that began with the king. Interestingly enough, his father was a bad king. He was a good king.

You know, you can have a good king in a flash of time. Pray for that. Pray for that for America. Don't think that just because we had a bad king, we can never have a good king again. That's not right.

We know from Isaiah that God can raise up a holy king in a moment, even a holy king that had a bad background. And this is the mercy of God. So there's a revival that's going on, and there are prayers for the protection of God that are going on that really result in the destruction of the Assyrian army, 185, 000 of them. Now that's a sign of a revival. When there's an attacker and God shows up as a result of the prayers of the remnant.

You see, the prayers of the remnant really matter. If you want to save, be part of saving America, then pray like Hezekiah prayed. And God has a way of hearkening unto the prayers of His people. And we should take that as a great encouragement in the land that we live in now. In fact, this week our family was reading Proverbs chapter 25.

And there's an interesting note at the beginning of Proverbs 25. It says that these are the Proverbs that the men of Hezekiah passed along. There were men in Hezekiah's day who were writing down the Proverbs. They were preserving them. There were the men of Hezekiah.

Would that there would be men like that today? A time of revival, men, maybe it's a small number of men, maybe it's like Isaiah spoke of it, it's like a hut in a cucumber field, it's just a little thing like that. But there is a holy remnant that's operating in genuine love toward God during this time. It's not all bad. You know, there's so much judgment that's declared in Isaiah.

We always have to remember that there always is in the backdrop a remnant, a people of God. There are the men of Hezekiah and their families, and they're preserving the words of God in the nation. And it's a beautiful thing that they're doing. Some say that Psalms 120 to 134 were influenced by King Hezekiah, and perhaps they were preserved by the men of Hezekiah. And I think what I want to say about this reality that's existing in the days of Isaiah is that even in the worst of times, there are pockets of beauty.

There are places of joy. There are people whose God is the Lord. There's places of true worship and even when it looks like an entire society is inebriated, there's still some who are sober and the world needs those sober-minded who will stand upon Jesus to stand with Jesus Christ and his people. And so, what we've seen in the first part is there is this, there's this warning to Judah. It's the warning about their pride that has made them stagger and not think right.

And now there's a message here to Judah and that's where we find ourselves in verse 14, the word therefore. Therefore now hear the word of the Lord. And this is what the This is what the world needs the most. It needs to hear the Word of the Lord. You're always safe when you're bringing the Word of God into any situation that you're in.

And faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God. And it's so critical that there is in the world a people who will declare the Word of God, who will hear it and then they will declare it. So that it would be in this world that there would be those who would have ears to hear. And so he begins here in this message is to hear the Word of the Lord. And we See who he's speaking to.

He's speaking to the rulers of Jerusalem. Do you see that in verse 14? Who rule his people who are in Jerusalem. Standing of the world. They've made a covenant.

They're going in a direction self-consciously. And their well-crafted, sophisticated logic has gotten them into making a covenant with death. Now, perhaps it's a covenant with Egypt. It is that, but it's deeper than that. It's not just Egypt, because he mentions Sheol, I believe.

He's speaking about this overall covenant with the things that are contrary to God. And what God is saying is you have all these fancy thoughts about hell, you have all these refined ideas about what happens to you after you die. You know, you're like Richard Dawkins, you just say, oh, the worms are going to eat me and that's the end of it. That's a fancy philosophy. You know, that sounds just so erudite and sophisticated, doesn't it?

Well, this is the covenant with death. People make a deal with the way that they're going to deal with death. I mean, you have to make a deal with death. You have to make a deal. You've got to make a judgment about what that is.

And here they've made a covenant that it's wrong. And all of their pontifications about death and bragging about who will be in hell with them will turn out to be a cruel joke that the devil foisted against them. You know, I don't know how many times I've heard people say, you know, I'd rather be with my friends in hell than with people like you in heaven." Well they're just bragging about something that will not occur. And it's the making of a covenant with death. And God is saying here is that He is going to cancel out your wrong ideas.

He's going to stop them. It was a refuge of lies and you'll no longer be able to maintain them at all. And I think that what's happening here is that the people are saying, death is not a problem for me. You know, we're fine. We're safe from hell.

We're the bold. We're the fearless. We understand death. We know death. The wages of sin isn't death.

And here Isaiah is saying, you've made this covenant, But it absolutely, it will not stand. In fact, he says that there will be an overflowing scourge that passes through. They say, it will not come to us, For we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves." Verse 15 is very fascinating. First of all, there's this terminology here of overflowing, the overflowing scourge. I don't know if you've noticed this being repeated several times in Isaiah 28 already.

In verse 2, there's the flood of mighty waters overflowing. In verse 15, there's the overflowing scourge that passes through. In verse 17, there are the waters that overflow the hiding place and verse 18 again overflowing scourge passes through so this idea of a flood coming this overflowing This is what's going to happen with those who make a covenant with death. Those who try to put a smiley face on hell. They will be overflowed like a gigantic, overflowing river.

You know, we've had hurricanes blow through here from time to time. And there was a hurricane that blew through here many years ago. And I had a factory down in Raleigh, and I got a phone call one day, and they said, hey, your factory's underwater. And so I went down there through the fallen down trees, chainsawing myself down to near the belt line in Raleigh. And I got down there and there was a river, there was a river flowing.

And it was deep and I decided to cross it to go to get to the plant. And I got into about chest deep water, and there were 55 gallon drums and garbage stuff flowing all around. And it started to sweep me off my feet. I lost my footing. And as long as I could keep both feet on the ground it was fine but sometimes my feet were lifted off the ground.

That's the picture of a flow and just you your feet come off the ground and then you're just swept down the stream and you're just swept out forever. That's the imagery that he's speaking of. There's this overflowing scourge. And it's the scourge of Assyria, number one. But it's also the scourge of God against all lies, because he is going to destroy all lies and liars.

And this is why it's so critical for us not to embrace the lies. You know, several of us were down at the abortion clinic yesterday and we were faced with about 50 atheists who were counter protesting. They formed a wall between us and the abortuary there, and with their signs and dancing and yelling and heckling and playing music and all kinds of things like that. And they had signs like, I like turtles, bring back Crystal Pepsi, Pro Cat, Happy St. Patrick's Day, Weird Hobby, Everything is Awesome, Jesus slays.

These are the people who made a covenant with death and they've made lies their refuge. That's the deal. This is the whole idea of making lies your refuge. It's a perfect representation of Romans 1, verse 18, of those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

That's exactly what Isaiah is saying. Because these people are saying in the days of Isaiah, we have made lies our refuge. They're admitting it. They know they've made lies their refuge. They know they're suppressing the truth and unrighteousness.

One thing we knew for sure down at that abortion clinic is that those people knew they knew what they were doing was wrong. They knew what they were saying was a lie and they were suppressing it and finding every imaginable way. It was no surprise that yesterday I saw more satanic symbols tattooed on people's bodies than I've ever seen in my whole life at one time. But it was it was the suppression of the truth and unrighteousness. It was it was it was the the hiding behind the lie and God says that that that that will that will not that will not work you know Paul Carrington was talking to a guy I was listening in and as they were talking it occurred to me There was just one gigantic difference between him and us.

And it's that we believe, we believe as Christians, that God is compassionate. And they believe that they are more compassionate than God. That's the difference. We believe in God as He says He is, and they believe in themselves more than they believe in God. And we were coming home cataloging some of the lies.

Here's a lot of yesterday. Lie number one, I'm compassionate and good. Lie number two, personal rights are more important than God's laws. Lie number three, we are righteous because we're vegans and we don't kill animals. We ran into lots of vegans.

Lie Number four, it's hateful to say that something is sin. Lie number five, personal opinions, all personal opinions should be respected. Lie Number six, there's nothing sinful unless you feel it is sinful. Lie number seven, it's not a life, it's a fetus. Those are blatant lies.

And Isaiah is attacking the people who know they are hiding in a refuge of lies, and yet they boldly proclaim that they're not lies. And here's one thing that you can know, is that God's Spirit is, it does convict of unrighteousness. It does convict the world of unrighteousness. And you can always know that. In response to this, Isaiah establishes something that is not a false hope, that is not a lie at all.

And we come to that in verses 16 and 17. He speaks of this foundation and he's really in this second point here in the outline before you, he's really declaring that the gospel is their only hope and that God provides a sure foundation. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation, whoever believes will not act hastily. Also, I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plummet. The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters will overflow the hiding place." And here we find ourselves really at the center point of the message of Isaiah chapter 28.

And that is the gospel. And everything in the previous section and everything in this section here centers around this one provision of God that God provides salvation for sinners that God gives people a place to stand that will not be swept away and it's it's it is it's a declaration of the gospel you know The gospel's importance is impossible to overemphasize. And it's difficult to overstate the importance of this matter here in verses 16 and 17. Paul Washer has three books on the Gospel, and in the first book called The Gospel's Power and Message he says this, Every word and doctrine of the Scriptures is important. However, Some doctrines carry greater weight than others do.

Our eternal salvation does not depend upon some nuance in ecclesiology or eschatology, but it does depend entirely on the gospel. He says, we are in danger or error whenever we overemphasize the importance of one truth to the demise or neglect of others. However, it is impossible to overstate or overemphasize the preeminence of the gospel. And here we can see how true that is because he is speaking about a cornerstone where he's speaking about the most important thing in the universe. You know A person can become saved and have all kinds of wrong ideas about things.

And we will continue to have wrong ideas about things until we're taken home and all things are revealed to us. That is the truth about our lives. But there is one thing that you cannot get wrong and that is the gospel. If you get the gospel wrong you get everything wrong and all you get after that is a bunch of dead religion and it happens all the time. Now first of all do you see the word behold?

Behold, behold I lay in Zion. Again that word behold. How many times has Isaiah said behold and it's it's like he's saying you know wake up get real see the reality sweep away the lies let's get down to the most important issues of life. Behold, look, look at this. And then he says, behold, I lay.

Those are very important, Those two words are very important. God is the one who lays the foundation stone for salvation. It's God who provides salvation. Not one single aspect of our salvation comes from ourselves. It comes from God because it is God who laid in Zion a foundation stone.

Spurgeon said not one stitch of our salvation garments has been sewn by our own hand. And then it's laid in Zion. Those other two words, in Zion. This is two things. It is a picture of the church, the true people of God.

In other words, I lay in the true church a foundation stone. This is the remnant people who worship God, but ultimately it's also a picture of the people of God in heaven. The Zion is a picture of heaven. The church is a precursor to heaven. And the things that God calls the church to do and be is really a foretaste of what will be happening in heaven among the people of God, but even far greater.

It's a stone for a foundation. Do you see that? It's a stone. Now, this whole idea of rock, stone as foundation is found all over the Bible. I'm going to give you 11 places in scripture that explain the meaning of the stone.

In Genesis chapter 49 verse 24, we learned that the stone of Israel was actually the strength that Joseph had when he was being attacked and while he was in prison. It was Jesus Christ that it was his strength during his times of calamity. And it says here that the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel." This is a declaration of what the stone is, but it's also the first mention of the word shepherd in the Bible. And he's speaking that Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd. It was Jesus Christ and his shepherding that that sustained Joseph while he was in prison.

And anyone else in prison has only one hope of being sustained, the shepherd, the stone of Israel. You know, I have a grandson that was named Shepherd just recently, and this is the first occurrence of the word. And It's been a joy to see what it means to be a stone and a shepherd at the same time. Well, he is a rock. Number two, Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 4.

He is the rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just are justice, a God of truth and without injustice. The third, Isaiah 8, 14 and 15, where it says that he is a sanctuary for those who love him and a stone of stumbling to those who do not. He will be a sanctuary but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both houses of Israel. A trap and a snare. So he's a trap on the one hand, but he's also a sanctuary on the other.

The third, the fourth occasion is in Psalm 18 verses 1 through 3. David declares that God was his rock when Saul was chasing him. And this is a song that he sang on the day that God delivered him from all of his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he says, I will love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer." There he proclaims that God is his rock.

Number five, and I've been saying this is the fifth occurrence, not true. I'm just saying this is a fifth occurrence that I'm going to tell you about. The fifth is Psalm 118 verses 21 and 22 where the psalmist says that the answer to all of his problems was the rock. I will praise you, for you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. Number six. In Matthew 21, verses 41 through 45, in the parable of the unfaithful vineyard workers, the stone is a symbol that those who do not do work in the vineyard and who do not bear fruit in the vineyard will be ground to powder by the stone. Number seven, in Acts chapter four, Peter proclaims that Jesus is the cornerstone and there's salvation in no other.

He says, let it be known to all, to you all, and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified whom God raised from the dead by him this man stands here before you whole this is the stone which which was rejected by you builders which has become the chief cornerstone nor is their salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Number 8 in Romans chapter 9 verses 29 through 33. We learn that the Jews fell upon this stumbling stone and the reason they fell is they did not have faith. They had works but no faith.

They had law but no love for God and they stumbled upon Him. Number nine, 1 Peter 4, 2, 4 through 8, where Peter says that we come to Him as a living stone to join Him, the cornerstone. This is the whole idea that we stand, We stand, we're placed on the foundation, but we're placed there with the other believers. We stand with one another. Number 10, Romans 9, 32.

Again a picture of Israel stumbling over the stone and did not join the cornerstone. And then lastly number 11, Romans 10-11 which is speaking of the shame. Paul is speaking of the shame of his countrymen and he explains how trusting in Christ saves you from the shame. Whoever turns to Jesus Christ, they will not be put to shame. It's a beautiful thing that he's speaking of here.

It's a stone, but it's a tried stone. In other words, it has had tests applied to it. There's no fault in it, there are no cracks in it. It's found to be faithful. Jesus Christ was tested.

He was tested by the devil. He was tested by hunger. He was tested by a lust for heroism. He was tested by wealth. He was tested by hardship.

He was tested by hatred. He was tested by love for sinners and love for his disciples. He was a tested stone. Some say it means that he tests, he's a stone that tests, possibly. I think that it's that he actually is the one who was tested and found to be to be sound.

And it's a precious stone. In other words, it's of great value because there's nothing else like Him. There's no other place that you can go to find help and rest for your soul. There's no better shepherd in the world. And he shed his precious blood.

And he's more precious than silver. He's more costly than gold. He's the pearl of great price. People leave everything to follow him because he is the precious cornerstone. The disciples said, where else, Lord, where would we go?

Where would we go? People were leaving him because they knew the blessing. They knew his love and they could not leave him. And they also understood what it meant to be clawed and chewed up and spat out by the devil. And so they recognized him as precious.

He's the wonderful counselor. He's the way, the truth, and the life. He's the prince of peace. He's the great physician. He's the fulfillment of the law.

He's precious in every way. And he's a cornerstone. This has to do with tying the whole building together. This has to do with tying the people of God together. That it's Jesus Christ that unifies his people.

We're unified in Jesus Christ. He is the center of all of our fellowship. He is the reason that we're here together. He's the one that can take the Jew and the Gentile, the most opposite you can imagine, and brings them together. And he brings the rich, the poor, the wise, the foolish together in his church.

And he gives a place for all of them. And the question that we should ask in reading this is, am I part of the building? Am I a living stone that has been brought together by the precious cornerstone? It says that it's a sure foundation. This means that the whole structure depends upon it and it cannot be shaken.

That he has a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And then he says, whoever believes will not act hastily. Not act hastily. It's an interesting use of words here. The word in Hebrew has to do with kind of fitfully running about, getting jerked around in a lot of ways.

Not be going here and there and here and there, but it's a picture of someone who's not being disturbed. The word occurs about 20 times in Isaiah and it always means hurrying, a flurry, a panic of some kind of activity. It's in the context that it's used of you know running scared or working with fear, moving, moving, moving. But here the Lord Jesus Christ says, he who believes will not be that way. He who believes will not get jerked around.

And when the Apostle Peter speaks of it and the Apostle Paul, they use a different term. Paul especially says, they shall not be put to shame. And he interprets it that way. And so this is the basis of the Church of Jesus Christ. God provides the only sure foundation to those who are not swept away in the refuge of their lives.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 11 I think we get a summary statement of this whole matter of the foundation. Verse 11 in 1 Corinthians 3 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear. For the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is.

If anyone's work which he has built on it endures. He will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved. Yet so as through fire." So one thing we learn about the foundation, about standing on the foundation, An individual can build on that foundation things that will be destroyed. This is the whole matter of the Christian life.

That We ought to be very careful what we're building on that stone. What are we adding? What are we adding to our life upon that foundation of Jesus Christ? Because you can build a lot of wood, hay, and stubble as a Christian on that foundation. This is an immature, disobedient Christian who has been saved yet by fire, but so much of their life, at the end of their life, will be burned up.

What an important question that is to ask. You may be standing on a foundation of Jesus Christ, but what are you building on that foundation? How are you spending your time? What are you putting in your mind? What are you doing with your life?

Are you building with wood, hay, and stubble? And then in verse 17, there's this declaration. Also, I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plummet, the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters will overflow the hiding place." Here there's all these different kinds of imagery. There's a measuring line. These are horizontal measurements.

And then there's the plummet. These are vertical measurements. And in other words, he's going to make everything line up correctly. And nothing will be out of line either horizontally or vertically. Everybody knows that if you get things out of line, horizontally or vertically, on the foundation, you have a problem.

And that's what he's speaking to here. And he's saying, justice and righteousness will be the measuring line in the plummet and there will be hail to sweep it away and there will be waters who will overflow it. It will overflow the hiding place. Place. And then in verses 18 through 20, he itemizes what will happen to you as a result of this drunkenness and pride that he's been speaking of since the beginning of the chapter.

Verse 18, your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, you will be trampled down by it. And this is a picture of what happens when your security of lies disappears. Look at verse 19, as often as it goes out, it will take you. For morning by morning it will pass over and day by day and by night it will be a terror just to understand the report there's this picture of these overflowing waters but they're going out like it like a riptide And it's a riptide that just never ends.

It just sweeps you away from the shore further and further and further, I think, into outer darkness. And what's going to happen with Sennacherib coming in to destroy is a picture of hell. It's a declaration of it. It's a picture of being swept away forever. Every morning, every day, every night, for all eternity.

And yet God is going to give both Judah and Ephraim a sense of what it is going to look like. Actually in small measure compared to the great measures of the wrath of God in hell. As bad as the Assyrians might be, it's nothing like hell. And it's given to warn. And then Isaiah speaks about what a frustrating mess life is by taking refuge in the lies.

He says it just doesn't work. Nothing works. Fulfillment eludes you. And he gives this picture. I remember reading this when I was in my teens.

I remember it like it was yesterday, reading verse 20. Look at verse 20. For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it. And it's just another way of saying the lies, they just don't work. It just creates an uncomfortable state of being your bed, it crunches you up and you're tossing and you're turning you're cold you can't get you can't get the blanket around you it's it's a half it's a half of the half of the blanket.

And it just doesn't get it, it doesn't do it, it's frustrating. And this is the life of those who maintain the lies. Every lie that we continue to embrace is like this. It just doesn't work. It underperforms, to say the least.

But God's ways perform beautifully. He gives a solid foundation. And so what Isaiah is saying is, well, they've made their bed and now they're going to have to sleep in it with all the frustration that it brings. And I think what he's saying is that without Christ, without the truth, you know, all you get is a long night of misery, of tossing and turning, and of things that just don't work at all. And the lies that the world gives you, They just promise you an illusion, but what you really get is nothing but tossing and turning and cold and frustration and sleeplessness.

Do you know what happens when people can't sleep? They go crazy after a while. And this is what you get in the refuge of lies. And then he gives two examples in verse 21. For the Lord will rise up as Mount Perizin.

He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his awesome work, and to bring to pass his act, his unusual act. So here Isaiah is giving two examples from the past. And these are situations where the people are fighting against the people of God, but God prevails. And the scene in Mount Perizim is a scene where the Philistines were attacking, and David prevails because God rises up. And the Valley of Gideon, this is a picture from Joshua chapter 10, where the Lord tells Joshua not to fear, and then hailstones come down.

And the hailstones were so large. The word for hailstones that's used there it's it's like boulders and more were killed from the hailstones than were killed in the battle so he's giving these two illustrations of God rising up and destroying armies from heaven because it is the Lord of hosts that's doing it. And he's just proving that he will do it. And then in verse 22 there's a call to listen. Now therefore do not be mockers, lest your bonds be made strong." He's saying, the more you embrace the refuge of lies, your bondage just gets stronger.

You just get more and more entangled. The noose tightens. You know, you build your life on lies and your life just gets more and more complicated, more entangling. The handcuffs get tighter and tighter and you start down this road of sin and it only makes you more of a slave because the noose gets tighter. Your bonds increase.

They don't decrease at all. Here's a principle. The trajectory of bondage is always only one way, with one exception. Bondage never stands still. Bondage is either increasing or it's decreasing.

And that's why identifying the refuge of lies that we maintain in our own thinking is an important matter. Because it means the difference between the increasing of bondage or the decreasing of bondage. And he gives four imperatives here. He says, give ear. Now, the reason I want to point this out, these four imperatives have used different words, even though you have hear, you have ear, hear, and voice.

That's pretty much all that's in this verse, right, in verse 23. Give ear and hear, hear my voice, listen and hear my speech. You know, it's all about hearing and listening. Give ear means to listen to the sound, the first in verse 23. And then hear, hear my voice, it's a different word, it means understanding and discernment.

Voice means thunder, and then listen, and the next word means to take heed, to actually do something about it. And then lastly, the last hear, it has to do with discernment, and my speech has to do with a commandment or a law. In other words, listen to the sound and it's the thundering and it's the law of God. But hear it with your ears, know what it means and do something about it. That's what the appeal is.

And then he says that God knows how to judge. This is the final section here. That God is working a wonderful and excellent plan. Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?

When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow the black cumin and scatter the cumin, plant the wheat and rose, the barley in the appointed place and the spelt in its place. Okay, let's go back to verse 24. I just want to show you how this flows. He's talking about sowing and plowing and reaping and he's using this as an illustration of what he is doing in judging the household of lies. First of all there's plowing in verse 24, Do you see that?

Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? So he's talking about the behavior of someone who's plowing. And then he turns to a different matter. He turns to sowing, sowing of seeds. Verse 25, When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow the black cumin and scatter the cumin, plant the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place?" So he's saying the farmer doesn't just do one thing with everything.

He deals discriminately and carefully. And he does one thing with the cumin, another thing with the wheat, another thing with the barley, and another thing with the spelt. He is dealing with things carefully and distinctively according to their nature. And then in verse 26, we learn how the farmer knows how to do this, for he instructs him in right judgment. God teaches him.

This is really, there's really a lot to talk about. We could talk about science here. We could talk about how we've discovered anything. How is it that we can send images and voices all over the world? How is it that we can cause things to grow or put things together or mold things, mold different substances to make things like pianos and chairs.

Well, the Lord reveals it to you. The farmer knows to do something different with the wheat than he does with the cumin because the Lord reveals it to him. Because God has revealed it. Why is it that we have all the technology we have today? It's because God revealed it.

God revealed it to man. Mendes just didn't somehow get smart. God revealed it to them, just in the same way that God reveals to the farmer how to farm. It is God who gave him the ability. Why do we have what we have in the form of technology today?

God, it was God. And he decided to reveal it to man. You might say, oh, we should get rid of all these things that God has revealed to man. I'm not confident that's the right thing to do. God revealed them, we must take dominion over them.

Or they'll take dominion over you. But God here has a different process for the crops. Notice verse 27. For the black cumin is not threshed with the threshing sludge. Now, In verse 27, I want you to see something very clearly here.

There are three words that show you that God deals differently with different things. He's... The cumin is not threshed, and the black cumin is beaten, and the bread flour, verse 28, must be ground. There's threshing and beating and grinding. And then he says, therefore, he does not thresh it forever, break it with his cartwheel, or crush it with his horseman.

This also comes from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance. To thresh means to trample on, to tread on. You've heard that term, don't tread on me. To break it means to destroy it and to change it so that it's different. To grind it is to crush it and pulverize it into dust and bring it to pieces.

And it says, and this comes from the Lord of hosts. It's the Lord of hosts, by the way. Don't ever tire of seeing that term, the Lord of hosts. We've seen it so many times. It's the Lord of the armies of heaven, the Lord that controls absolutely everything from heaven.

And so why are we talking about the farmer? He's talking about the intricate processes of a farmer. And I think for sure he's saying that God teaches mankind everything that they need to know. But he has a calculated violence to the ground and the seed. And you handle different crops differently.

You deal with different nations differently. And we find here that God is taking control over his garden. He plants it, he plows it, and he works toward an objective. And he's planning all the motion. And what Isaiah is saying is, look at how much detailed and wise attention that the farmer gives to his crops.

And how much more does God pay attention to his vineyard? That God brings his judgment toward his vineyard in a way that's wise. And he deals with every single person rightly and maybe differently. Matthew Henry said, afflictions are God's threshing instruments designed to loosen us from the world, to separate between us and our chaff, and to prepare us for use. And as to these, God will make use of them as there is occasion, but He will proportion them to our strength.

They shall be no heavier than there is need. If the rod and the staff will answer the end, he will not make use of his cartwheel and his horseman." So if the farmer knows when to stop plowing and when to stop threshing, God knows. God levels the surface he plants the seeds in the ways that he desires. And it's his mercy in all of what he does. And God will continue the plowing and the preparing of the soil.

God will continue to winnow. God will continue to sow. And he'll continue the harvest until the end. And what God does is he takes a people who are drunk and he makes them sober again. And he puts a foundation under their feet.

And he has them stand there. But they don't stand alone. They stand with him, and they stand with the people of God. And there in this household of faith, They spend their lives getting rid of the refuge of lies that have so hurt them, and they are with Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ is that God saves sinners and He gives them something solid and He gives them a family.

Well, chapter 28 is a woe of judgment against the drunkards. It's a blessing, because God will deal with all drunkenness. And He will either make some drunkards sober, and He'll bless them, or He'll sweep them away in the hail in the flood of His wrath. And that's the gospel of Jesus Christ. Would you pray with me?

Oh Lord, we thank you for these words, a refuge of truth, a sure foundation for all of our wobbling and staggering. Oh Lord, I thank you for your son Jesus Christ. His sacrifice on the cross, his gathering of people from every tongue, tribe, and nation who did not deserve any stability and never had it before. Oh Lord, I thank you for your wonderful gospel. Amen.